Muchova ends Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak in China Open quarterfinals

BEIJING (AP) — Karolina Muchova ended second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak with a 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-4 victory in the China Open quarterfinals on Friday.

The 49th-ranked Muchova saved set points in the first set and came from 4-2 down in the third to win in 2 hours, 46 minutes.

It was the third consecutive time that Muchova, a U.S. Open semifinalist last month, has won against the three-time major winner and the Czech player now leads their head-to-head series 3-1.

Sabalenka’s streak had started with a title at Cincinnati in August and continued with a run to the championship at the U.S. Open last month. She also won the Australian Open earlier in the year. She also had a previous career-best streak of 15 wins across the 2020-21 seasons.

Muchova will meet Paris Olympics gold medalist Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals after the 21-year-old rallied to beat Mirra Andreeva of Russia and keep alive her bid to become Beijing’s first home-grown champion.

The fifth-seeded Zheng had to fight back from a break down in the final set to win 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 and became the first Chinese semifinalist in Beijing since Wang Qiang in 2018.

Shanghai Masters

Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and American duo Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul all eased through their second-round matches with straight-sets victories at the Shanghai Masters.

However, there was a surprise as 91st-ranked Aleksandar Vukic stunned the eighth-seeded Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 for the biggest victory of his career.

“I’m very proud of myself, very happy,” Vukic said. “I played a very good match. It was very clean.”

The fifth-ranked Medvedev fought back from a break down in both sets to earn a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Thiago Seyboth Wild, who upset the Russian in the first round of the French Open last year.

Medvedev next meets Matteo Arnaldi and could face Tsitsipas in the fourth round.

The 12th-ranked Tsitsipas, who lost in the first round at the Japan Open last week, had a stern test against Kei Nishikori but prevailed 7-6 (6), 6-4 in 105 minutes to avenge his defeat to the Japanese at the Montreal Masters in August.

Tsitsipas will play Alexandre Muller of France in the third round. Muller beat 18th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-2, with the Canadian having now lost the opening match at four of his last five tour-level tournaments.

The 16th-ranked Shelton, who made the quarterfinals in Shanghai last year, hit 11 aces as he advanced past Denis Shapavalov of Canada 6-3, 7-5.

Compatriot Tommy Paul, seeded 11th, needed barely an hour to rout Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 6-3. Paul will play 19th-seeded Alejandro Tabilo in the third round.

Another American, Alex Michelson, beat rising Chinese star Bu Yunchaokete 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round match which had been pushed back because of Bu’s semifinal run at the China Open.

The 32 seeded players received a first-round bye, including top-ranked Jannik Sinner and second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who met in the the China Open final on Wednesday. Sinner starts against Taro Daniel of Japan, and Alcaraz faces Shang Juncheng of China.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis